Russian style

On our last evening together before the family's departure the meal involved blini, those little buckwheat pancakes  eaten hot with caviar if you have it (we didn't). However the alternatives, which we did have, are very good too: smoked salmon, smoked sprats from Riga, pickled gherkins and Polish chanterelles, cucumber salad, radishes and smetana . We also knocked back a few tots of zubrowka, the vodka that's flavoured with bison grass. I make it myself by steeping the grass in (any old) vodka around mid-summer. It's simple enough to do this once you've  learn to recognise the species which is known here as sweet vernal grass Anthozanthum odoratum,  a common component of natural hay meadows which sweetens the breath of cows and imparts a heavenly perfume to alcohol. (More about that in this previous blip.)

The meal made a splendid finale to a fortnight of relaxed camaraderie and some excellent eating, thanks to everybody's culinary skills. Now it's back to soup and baked potatoes for me. And maybe back to a better performance on Blip too. I have been embarrassingly neglectful  in my appearance here - which I regret.